
Qass. 
Book. 









^l SERMON 



(Btmxamti bg t\t §mt\ ai 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Oittora tnti Haunting 



) 



SERMON 

OCCASIO>-ED BT THE DEATH 0* 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES J 
PBEACHED IN THE 

FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, 

NEW-BRUNSWICK, N. J., 
JUNE 1st, 18C5, 



REV. RICHARD H. STEELE, 

FASTOE OF THE CHUKCH. 



l^EW-BRXINSWICK, N. J : 

TEKHUNE & VAN ANGLERS FKBSS, ALBANY ST. 
1865. 






NEW-BRUNSWICK, JUNE 1st, I860. 

Rbv. RICHARD II. STEELE, 

Dear Sir, : — 

The undersigned, members 
of the Congregation of the First Dutch Church, heard with profound 
satisfaction your discourse to-day. An utterance so distinct and 
manly, and so admirably adapted to the times, deserves to be put 
into more enduring form, and to have a free circulation. The con- 
gregation earnestly desire to have it printed. Will you give it 
for the purpose ? 

Very truly yours, 
•Johnson Letson, David Cole, Lewis Applegate, 

Henry Van Ltew, K. T. B. Spader, John Van Deventer, 
John R. Van Arsdale, John Brunson, David Coddington, 
II. V. D. Schenck, John Johnson, Henry Me Donald, 
R. A. Van Arsdale, C. S. Van Pelt, Isaac V. Van Doren, 
William Van Deursen. 



NEW-BRUNSWICK, JUNE 2d, 18G,->. 
To Johnson Letson, 

Prof. Cole, and others : 

Gentlemen : — 

The discourse commemorative 
of our lamented Chief Magistrate, of which you make such kind 
mention, is at your disposal. I have no doubt that your just admira- 
tion for the Illustrious Dead has led you to overestimate the worth of 
the sermon, yet I yield to your wishes in the hope that we may all 
receive profit from the contemplation of a character so worthy of 
study and admiration as that of President Lincoln. 
With great respect, your friend and Pastor, 

RICHARD II. STEKIJ;. 



SERMON. 



2nd SAMUEL, 19- 2. 

AND THE VICTORY TIIAT DAT WAS TURNED INTO MOURNING UNTO ALL TIIE PEOPLE. 

Never perhaps in the whole history of the world 
did two such extremes of experience occur as that 
which our nation passed through during the second 
week of April last. Joy in its wildest delight, and 
sorrow in its deepest wail of anguish, in most rapid 
succession rolled over the land. We shall none of 
us forget the effect produced throughout the loyal 
North, when early on Monday morning of that event- 
ful week it was announced by swift telegraphic 
messages that the Capital of the rebellion was not 
only in our possession, but that now also the great 
army of the Confederacy under the leadership of its 
ablest General, had surrendered to the greatest living 
commander of the world, Lieutenant General Grant. 

We remember how the daily papers greeted us 
that morning with the broad capitals — Union — 
Victory — Peace — The surrender of General Lee and 
his whole army — The work of Palm Sunday. This 
was the climax of glad tidings, and after the four long 
dark dreary years, years in which the heart staggered 
under its great burden of wo, we do not wonder that 
the people almost ran wild "with excitement. The 



6 

official congratulation from the Secretary of War to 
the commander of our armies, " Thanks be to Al- 
mighty (Joel for the great victory with which he has 
this day crowned you and the gallant armies under 
your command," was enough to awaken the most 
latent patriotism, and to make each loyal heart beat 
with gratitude. 

It was not altogether unlookcd for. And yet it 
was so sudden in its announcement ; so promising in 
its significance ; and even the circumstances connect- 
ed with the capitulation, displaying in the character 
of our Lieutenant General the diplomacy of the 
statesman, as well as the prowess of the warrior, 
was so unexpected, that we accepted the whole mat- 
ter as a distinct, almost miraculous gift of heaven. 
We could not help thinking what it all meant. It 
meant the end of rebellion, the end of civil war, the 
end of deadly feuds, and the reestablishment of Gov- 
ernment and Law all over the land. No wonder 
that the joy was so great that it overstepped the rules 
of sobriety, and exhibited itself in forms such as 
never before had found expression. Men wept for 
joy, and embraced each other in public places, they 
sang doxologies of praise, and witli uncovered heads 
reverently acknowledged the hand of God. We felt 
that our aoble Government was stronger now than 
it had ever been before; that now peace would surely 
spread its broad mantle over our war-trampled terri- 
tories; that the pestilence was stayed in its ravages; 
and the thunder cloud of war was rolling away from 
our political skies as the exhausted storm dies along 
tin; heavens. We felt thai the weary nation would 
now start again in its career of greatness, purified by 



suffering, and make its way through the ages. All 
these emotions, and even more than the most exuber- 
ant fancy could kindle, sent their surge of joy over 
the soul. 

The next Sabbath was the Easter Sunday, the joy- 
ful festival of the church. And the event of national 
victory occurring just at this juncture, it seemed as if 
the good God intended to link the salvation of our 
land with that event which was the crowning triumph 
of the Redeemer's life — his Ressurrection from the 
dead. We were preparing to observe the day in this 
appropriate joyful manner, when in an hour all our 
hopes were dashed to the earth, and a chill of horror 
froze our very life-blood. 

During that very week occurred Good Friday, the 
day on which our Lord was crucified, and ever kept 
in remembrance of that event in the history of the 
Christian church. The succeeding morning brought 
to us the intelligence of the most awful event 'that 
had ever occurred, save one, in the history of the 
world. In the very midst of the wildest joy, in the 
flash of a moment, the heavy tidings rolled over the 
land, that Abraham Lincoln, our honored chief magis- 
trate, the foremost man of the age, had perished by 
the hand of the assassin. All at once, " The victory 
that day was turned into mourning unto all the people." 
The patriot just before so elated with hope that he 
would fain lift up the voice, clap the hands, and sing- 
songs of gladness in the streets, was now prostrated 
in the dust, speaking in hushed voice and with bated 
breath. During all day long we could not realize 
the greatness of the calamity, in the greatness of our 
grief. We could only ask, can it be that the Presi- 



8 

dent of the United States, the honored representative 
of the dignity and authority of our government; 
the chosen man of the people after four years of 
severe trial ; the man whose unfaltering integrity had 
won the confidence of this nation more largely than 
any other man since the days of Washington ; the 
man whom God seems to have qualified most emi- 
nently, by the natural formation of his character, the 
sterling honesty of his heart, and his deep moral 
principles, for the high office which he filled during 
these stormy years: — can it be that he, the good 
Abraham Lincoln, just in the hour of national triumph 
has fallen a victim of the dark assassin ? We can 
only stand in profoundest awe before the scene. Did 
ever two such extremes of experience meet ? Did 
human hearts ever touch two such opposite emotions ? 
Verily, " The victory that day was turned into 
mourning unto all the people." 

THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. 

What a change has Providence made in the order 
of our proceedings. We were on the eve of ar- 
ranging great civic processions, and calling the peo- 
ple together to study the lessons of victory, and learn 
the duties now devolving upon the American citizen 
in this new crisis of our history. But God meant it 
not so. Instead of rejoicing he called for mourning ; 
instead of great celebrations he called for funeral 
marches ; and in the place ol* long processions moving 
through our streets beneath gaily decorated banners 
;itid exulting with glad voices, lo ! yonder funeral train 
starting from the capital, bearing with them, as in 
ancient days the children of Israel did the body of 



9 

Josepli, the remains of our Chief Magistrate through 
the cities and villages of the land to his distant place 
of burial, among the people who knew and loved 
him well, and a nation following the bier as mourners. 

Never among the events of history has there been 
such a pageant witnessed as that ; and its chief inter- 
est arose from the fact that it was the heart-felt ex- 
pression of national grief. There have been great 
funeral processions upon earth. When Samuel died, 
all Israel was gathered together at his burial, and 
they made great lamentation over the best of the 
Judges. When Jacob died, his sons reverently took 
up the body out of the land in which they were 
strangers, and at his own bidding bore it back to 
Canaan, and buried him with his fathers ; and a great 
company went up with them out of Egypt as mour- 
ners. Nations also have mourned when statesmen, 
warriors, and emperors have passed away from the 
scenes of their glory. How profound was the grief 
of the British heart, and even of all Europe when 
the young Princess Charlotte died, whose winning 
traits of character had twined around her the love of 
the nation. When the ashes of Napoleon Bonaparte 
were brought back to France in his coffin, the whole 
land rose up to receive him at his coming, and the 
dead Emperor received more honor than the living 
hero. 

But never was grief so profound and mourning so 
sincere, as that which has followed the funeral march 
of Abraham Lincoln to his burial place at Springfield. 
In yonder city I stood for two hours beholding the 
funeral pageant following the train of the dead chief- 
tain. And as his remains were born past the throng, 



10 

with uncovered head, and reverent mien, and moist- 
ened eye, the whole great crowd bowed down in 
grief. The heart of the nation was touched, and 
every household felt the sad shock of personal be- 
reavement. "Far more," it has been said, u have 
gazed upon the face of the departed, than have ever 
gazed upon the face of any other departed man. 
More eyes have looked upon the procession for six- 
teen hundred miles or more, by night and by day, 
by sunlight, dawn, twilight and torchlight, than ever 
before watched the progress of a procession." 

THE MEANING. 

We are here to inquire, why was all this mourning 
in the nation ? Is there an adequate cause for this 
swelling grief of the land ? My answer is — 

I. The man himself his position, and the circum- 
stances of his death, warrant this expression of nation- 
al mourning. 

The man himself was simply Abraham Lincoln; 
in some respects no more than a man, and standing 
in the same relation to God with you and me. And 
yet in the native cast of his character, and in his 
training, he was a man of commanding influence and 
mark, with endowments mental and moral unusual for 
his position ; and I believe that this has been the in- 
creasing conviction of the people in the progress of 
events, and more especially during the closing months 
of his life. There was something peculiar in the east 
of his mind ; and the elements that went to make up 
his character were of such a remarkable type, that 
he won largely the popular heart. In forming an 



11 

estimate of the man there are some things that we 
are to take into the account, which do not come into 
the calculation in weighing other characters. We 
must take our estimate from the circumstances of his 
early training, from the times in which he lived, the 
various disadvantages under which he established 
himself, and the native force of his intellect and heart. 
He had by nature a kind, companionable, and 
jovial disposition, free from every taint of vanity, 
adulation, or conceit of his own greatness ; and on 
the first interview he would awaken in one's mind a 
deep impression of solid worth, sound common sense, 
perfect simplicity of character, and unaffected good- 
ness of heart. lie was loved by those who knew 
him on account of his sterling and uncompromising 
integrity ; his industry and patience in discharging 
the minutest details of his office ; his freedom from 
all unkindness towards those who differed from him in 
the policy of his administration ; his remarkable skill 
in healing divisions among his friends, and leading 
them to adopt the one idea as the great end of the 
conflict — the preservation of the Union in all its in- 
tegrity ; and for his calmness of temper, combined 
with deep moral principle, and intense patriotism, 
lie was a man of unaffected modesty, never disclos- 
ing the slightest appearance of elation or conceit at 
the honors which were heaped upon him, or that it 
was necessary for him to be anything more than 
simple Abraham Lincoln. He was in close sympathy 
with the people, and had an openness of heart which 
won for him the deepest affections of those who were 
around him; and going beyond that circle for the 
same reason, there were thousands who knew the 



12 

man only by his life, who felt toward him all the 
warmth of personal attachment. 

In the character of his mind, and modes of thought 
and expression, he was entirely himself. While he 
was constitutionally slow in forming his plans, and 
arriving at a decision ; this did not denote any weak- 
ness of character or lack of moral courage. We 
know that he surrounded himself with the most dis- 
tinguished men of his party, with senators and 
statesmen who had the advantage of him in their 
long experience with the public affairs of the nation ; 
yet none of them could obtain such an influence over 
him as to set aside his own carefully formed judgment. 
It was known the country over that he was the Presi- 
dent, and they were his cabinet ministers. He sought 
light from every quarter, and obtained the advice of 
his counsellors ; but every leading act of his admin- 
istration was an act of his own mind. And when 
once formed no power could reverse his decision. 
He had made up his judgment deliberately, and with 
a sagacity which took in all its bearings, and after 
that he did not waver for a moment. 

One striking peculiarity of the man was the style 
of his composition, and the character of his elo- 
quence. This was his own as decidedly as were 
his manners, and personal appearauce. He read few 
works, but we are informed that among his favorites, 
were Bnnyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Spark's Life 
of Washington. And while (lie style of his compo- 
sition was formed after no model, and is not marked 
out by the rules of the rhetorician, yel we cannot Tail 
to trace; in those terse, shrewd sentences, a resem- 
blance to the great Christian dreamer. There is 



13 

nothing elegant in them as a whole, yet now and then 
a thought would break from his lips with all the 
sparkling freshness of Addison; and although it 
sometimes lacked a precision such as we look for in 
close analysis, and had even a grotesque twist in the 
language that would awaken a smile, yet what it lost 
in comeliness, it more than gained in point and vigor. 
His last inaugural address is a fair sample of his style 
of thought and expression ; and its solemn religious 
tone seems to have been written under the shadow of 
approaching martyrdom. 

That he was a sincere Christian we have every 
reason to believe from the frequent declarations of 
his lips, and the acts of his life. With a mind always 
pervaded with deep reverence for God and divine 
things, and chastened with many afflictions, he had 
the consciousness of the forgiveness of sin through 
atoning merits, of love to Jesus, and the character of 
an heir of his great salvation. 

The place which our lamented President is to fill 
in history is not now ours to determine, though we 
have the privilege with others to form a philosophical 
estimate. The circumstances of his elevation to office 
will after a few years have elapsed be lost sight of, 
and nothing will remain for the historian but to look 
at the man and his acts in the liiditof eveuts. Some 
future Bancroft or Hildreth, will in that future day 
pen a record something like the following ; This re- 
markable man from an obscure family subsisting by 
manual toil, laboring with his own hands for daily 
maintenance, having few advantages of education, 
and of a fixed integrity of heart, combined with rare 
native talents, is first heard of as a diligent and sue- 



14 

cessful village lawyer; then takes his seat in the 
lower house of Congress ; is next seen canvassing his 
adopted State in rivalship with the accomplished ora- 
tor Stephen A. Douglas for the Senate of the United 
States ; then next raised by the popular voice to the 
Chief Magistracy of the Republic ; and four years 
after we find this same man, at a time when the 
finances of the country are in the greatest embarrass- 
ment, and when a desolating and cruel civil war is 
raging with unabated violence and uncertain issue, 
retaining such an ascendency over the American 
nation that he is re-chosen by acclamation to the Presi- 
dency, and to a burden of responsibility which the 
Father of his country never sustained. The writer 
will place in contrast the condition of public affairs 
when he assumed the reins of government, a nation 
torn and rent asunder, treason whispered in almost 
every breath, and the noble republic a scene of wide 
desolation and ruin; with the state of the country when 
he was taken up to his reward, a nation restored and 
saved, the laws reasserting their supremacy from the 
lakes to the gulf, the flag of the union waving over 
the whole land, and our glorious nationality shining 
out again in the return of blessed peace, and the re- 
vival of the ancient spirit of loyalty. The historian 
will give him the honor of bestowing freedom upon 
a nation of slaves, and by virtue of his own mora] 
power combined with the material forces at his com- 
mand of quelling the gigantic rebellion of the world ; 
and the future sculptor will place high up on the ped- 
estal of fame the perhaps externally ungraceful, but 
truly noble figure of Abraham Lincoln, as the great 
vindicator and conserver of our popular form of free 
institutions. 



15 

Passing from the man himself to the position that 
lie occupied, and the circumstances of Ms death, we 
justify the mourning of the nation when we reflect 
that he was our President. Contemplated in itself 
it was the death of one of our fellow men ; it was 
death by the hand of violence ; a dark, deadly blow 
upon an unarmed man. The act in itself stands un- 
paralleled in its cold, malicious, cowardly intent. 
But it was not the life of that kind-hearted man that 
was intended. He was the Head of the Government, 
the representative of the honor and dignity of the 
American nation. It was not Abraham Lincoln, but 
the honored President of the United States who fell 
in that murderous assault. It was a blow struck by 
the rebellion at the very heart of the nation ; a 
cowardly effort of defeated and disappointed men to 
destroy our institutions, and tear down the pillars of 
our national edifice. I know indeed that the act most 
signally failed — thanks to the overruling Providence 
of God ; but the spirit in which it was conceived and 
executed was the very essence — the ripened fruit of 
this accursed rebellion. 

The miserable wretch whose grave no one wants 
to know, and his aids and accomplices now on trial, 
did not stand alone. We are told by the Govern- 
ment that the plan was known by the authorities in 
rebellion, and approved by them. And I for my part 
believe that the Southern Chivalry are capable of the 
deed. I believe that the men who could leave our 
brave boys prisoners in their power to starve, and 
perish by idiotcy induced by cruelties at which a 
savage would shudder, as at Andersonville and Sauls- 
bury, and Belle Island, and Libby Prison ; I believe 



16 

that the men who could approve the massacre at 
Fort Pillow in which men in the service of their 
country, disarmed and unresisting prisoners, were 
buried alive, and shot down like wild beasts ; I be- 
lieve that the men who could dig up the bodies of 
our dead soldiers slain in battle, as they did that of 
my personal friend and former parishioner, Major 
Ballou on the disastrous field of Bull Run, and 
carve their bones into spurs and ornaments, and send 
them home to their children ; I believe that the men 
who could plot the burning of hotels and places of 
public amusement thronged with their unsuspecting 
occupants and helpless children ; I believe that the 
men who could deliberately plan the introduction 
of pestilence into the City of New-York, appropria- 
ting to the act as it stands in sworn evidence two 
hundred thousand dollars; I believe that the men 
who could offer in their public journals large rewards 
to be paid to those who would bring to the au- 
thorities the heads of our officers, imitating the 
worst forms of barbarism; I believe that the men 
who could receive the tidings of our President's 
assassination with the shocking announcement — "if 
the work was to be done it had better be well done; 
and if the same were done to Andy Johnson, the 
beast, and to Secretary Stanton, the job would be 
complete ;" I believe that these men are capable of 
instituting the diabolical plot of the assassin to at- 
tempt the overthrow of a Government which they 
could not accomplish by the system of honorable 
warfare. 

While we know that there are thousands at the 
South who look upon this closing drama of rebellion 



. 



17 

with the same horror that we do at the North ; yet 
the men who stand connected with the deeds I have 
enumerated are to-day exulting in this deed of blood. 
It was a plan of long standing, and now in the ex- 
tremity of desperation, treason has killed our Presi- 
dent. The life of Abraham Lincoln was taken, be- 
cause he was entrusted with all the executive and 
military power of the Government, and was admin- 
istering the laws to crush a most causeless and wicked 
rebellion. He died in the discharge of the noblest 
duty, in the very zenith of his fame, honored by all 
the people and loved by God. He died in the arms 
of victory, his work completely done ; and his weary 
soul has entered into rest. We may well justify a 
nation's tears. Though in the hour of triumph, we 
may well grieve under a deep impression of the great- 
ness of our loss. For surely " The victory that day 
was turned into mourning unto all the people." 

II. A principal part of the interest awakened arises 
from the circumstances connected with the times, the 
principles which have been brought to light by these 
circumstances, and God's meaning in our great nation- 
al conflict noiv so happily terminated. 

VICTORY AND ITS LESSONS. 

As far as its military features are concerned we 
have come to the close of the great rebellion ; the 
greatest conflict through which any nation has ever 
passed. The end is not entirely reached, and there 
are difficult questions about reconstruction, which will 
need the wisest statesmanship to carry us successfully 
through. But I leave it to others to discuss the vari- 
ous measures which seem the best adapted to promote 



18 

the restoration of our beloved land, — and I find that 
many are lavish in their recommendations to our 
Chief Magistrate as to what course he had better 
pursue. We are very willing to leave all these 
questions in the hands of Andrew Johnson, a man 
who keeps his own counsels, who makes up his mind 
carefully, who loves his country, who believes that 
treason should be punished, and who has no inde- 
cision of character. 

During the progress of this war we have had 
prophecies almost without number, and as is often 
the case in reference to human calculations, most of 
them have failed. It is easier to study the lessons 
which God is teaching by the progress of events, than 
to forecast the probable future. And there are cer- 
tain great facts which have been brought to light by 
this contest, and in its progress, and which have cul- 
minated in the death of President Lincoln, which we 
do well to understand. 

I. God has been on our side. 

It is easy to see this now that the end is reached ; 
though our hearts sometimes trembled at the bloody 
way along which he was leading us. No other nation 
has ever passed through what ours has and lived, 
not even the Netherlands in that long contest with 
the combined powers of Louis 14th of France, and 
Charles II of England. We have had confidence in 
our cause, in Government, in Justice, in God : but 
how near did we come to ruin. What terrible dis- 
asters have we experienced ! What wholesale jealousy 
among our officers, amounting almost to treachery! 
What incompetent generals at the head of our armies I 



19 

We were sorely tried and sometimes painfully dis- 
couraged. We cannot forget the gloom which hung 
over the loyal North during the first years of the 
struggle, the sadness that attended the repulse of our 
armies as they were rolled back in their efforts to ad- 
vance through Virginia, at Bull Run, and Balls Bluff, 
and Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg, and on the 
Peninsula — the defiant spirit of the rebellion which 
seemed to rise up hydra-headed in its aggressions. 
We shall not forget how the leaders of the rebellion 
again and again attempted to advance upon our 
Northern territory, and threatened to carry devasta- 
tion through our cities and towns, and over our land. 
It would be foolish to deny to the Southern generals 
and armies a spirit, a determination, and a courage 
worthy of a better cause. 

But in the midst of it all God has been with us, 
enabling us to overcome. We have followed the 
march of General Grant, then almost unknown, in his 
triumphant way through the West, at Fort Donelson, 
and Corinth, and Vicksburgh ; we saw our gallant 
officers of the Navy doing their noble work, Dupont 
planting our flag on the soil of South Carolina, and 
Farragut of peerless fame unlocking the gate of the 
Mississippi at New Orleans, and Porter in his de- 
scending sail joining the fleet from the gulf below ; 
we saw the battle roll increased by the brilliant vic- 
tories of Antietam and Gettysburgh won from the 
Southern hosts on our Northern soil in the darkest 
day of the rebellion ; we beheld with astonishment 
the noble Sherman sweeping down from Chattanooga, 
fighting his way through passes and defiles which the 
engineers of Napoleon's army on their way over the 



20 

Alps never encountered, opening through the gates 
of Atlanta the key to the heart of the Confederacy, 
then marching through Georgia to Savannah, and 
upward through the Carolinas, sweeping the chivalry 
of Charleston, and Branchville, and Columbia from 
his path, and holding at bay until another work should 
be done, the strong army of Johnston ; then finally, 
we have seen our Lieutenant General when the hour 
for action came, hurling Lee from his intrenchments, 
marching triumphantly into the heart of the capital, 
and in the end surrounding the great army of the re- 
bellion in his iron grasp and grinding it to powder. 
It is impossible not to discover in all this the hand 
of God leading us to victory. 

It has been brought to light that in this struggle 
Providence has been against this Southern rebellion ; 
and Providence is irresistible. The very weapons 
they had forged against us have been turned against 
themselves. And the whole scene as it lies before 
us is a picture of the wonderful Providence of God. 
How clearly is there revealed in all this a mightier 
will than human ! 

No one was more ready to recognize this than our 
lamented President. The secret of his wonderful 
patience, and strength and confidence of success, was 
his implicit trust in God. And among the pleasing 
recollections of his life arc his proclamations of thanks- 
giving, calling upon the people to give thanks unto 
God who alone makcth us to triumph. 

2. God means the end of Slavery. 

If any mini has a lingering doubt on the subject, 
1 lie recent Amnesty Proclamation of President Johnson 



21 

must be the last argument, and it will bring convic- 
tion to even the most reluctant understanding. Sla- 
very is dead, and buried so deep that it can never 
be raised again. This is now an accepted fact, and 
one of the lessons of Divine Providence. God meant 
that it should be destroyed, and there is written the 
result. 

It has been a remarkable school of discipline 
through which we have passed in coming to this re- 
sult, but there is the fact ; and we must accept it, or 
be blind to one of the plainest indications of the hour. 
The time has passed for us to enter into discussion 
upon this subject, its probable effect upon our country 
in the character of its institutions. War, long, terri- 
ble, dire war, has brought this whole matter to a 
conclusion. Battle is the argument that has settled 
it once and forever. And for my part I am glad of 
it, and I trust that you are. If this bone of contention 
is to be buried never to be dug up again, from the 
bottom of my heart I will rejoice. The bullet of the 
assassin has made more converts on this point, and 
the events of the war, than the arguments of philan- 
thropists the world over. We now see more fully 
than ever what its spirit is ; what a gigantic wrong 
national, social, and religious ; and now that it is so 
near its end, we ought to sing praises and thank God 
fervently. 

It would have been better for all classes if the evil 
of slavery had been removed gradually and by the 
arts of peace. But if its end is near at hand, vio- 
lently if it must be so, let all the people say Amen. 
To President Lincoln will belong the honor of giving 
to four millions of slaves the station of freemen, and 



22 

they are among the chief mourners to-day, all over 
the land. It has long been the settled conviction of 
the great mass of people in this country, that a system 
like this cannot stand. The framers of our government 
never looked for its continuance. It was an evil that 
had its limits, and was not to be perpetuated. They 
felt that in our land of professed liberty, such an insti- 
tution as that of Slavery was a reproach to ourselves, 
and to the whole civilized world; and that it ought 
to die. And now that the end is so near reached, 
every Christian heart should rejoice. 

3. God intends that there shall be only one Govern- 
ment in the land. 

That question is now fixed, and if we have ever 
had any misgivings on the subject, we may as well 
amend our judgments, and come to the conclusion 
which has now been written in characters of blood, 
that this land is to be henceforth one and undivided. 

There has been a class of men from the beginning 
of our national existence, who have been haunted 
with the idea, that any State might withdraw from 
the Union, and enter upon its own independent ca- 
reer. That spirit Daniel Webster combated in his 
argument with Ilayne in the Senate of the United 
States in one of the greatest forensic efforts of the age. 
That same spirit Andrew Jackson grappled in his 
famous proclamation against the nulliiiers of the 
South, warning them of what he would do if they 
dared so much as whisper treason, and they knew the 
man too well to lift so much as their little linger 
against the government. But all this did not destroy 
this spirit of secession. It still lived, and it has been 



23 

vexing this nation in every political contest for these 
thirty five years. And now it is dead — twice dead 
and plucked up by the roots. It has given us a hard 
struggle, millions on millions of property, and more 
than half a million of precious lives, have been the 
price paid for our noble government. It has had a 
hard death, and the whole fabric of civilization has 
been shaken in its fall. 

Secession in this land has been more than a ghost, 
it is a monster. The idea that any body of men can 
throw off their allegiance, and set up a power of 
their own, is a monstrous doctrine, and fraught with 
untold evil. But we have fought that radical error 
down. This is its last struggle for the privilege of 
living. It never will have as fair advantages again. 
It is a controversy that is decided. Battle is the last 
dread argument, and it is conclusive. It is a fixed 
fact now and forever that in this system of govern- 
ment the majority shall elect the rulers, and the 
minority shall submit. 

The shocking murder of President Lincoln in the 
hour of unsuspecting repose and in the moment of 
triumph, and the assassin's assault upon Secretary 
Seward in the helplessness of sickness, and in the 
quiet of home ; a scheme that was well arranged, 
and in open day, vindicated among leading southern 
rebels, brings to light the demoniac spirit of the 
horrid doctrine of secession. We see now that we have 
been fighting with desperate men engaged in a des- 
perate cause ; and had it succeeded it would have 
been for all time the darkest page in the world's 
history. But it has not lived. The surrender of great 
armies has been its dying gasp ; and the work by 



24 

President Lincoln under God, has been so complete, 
that we are left to gaze in perfect wonder on the dis- 
solving scene. 

4. God means to show us that he alone gives the 
victory. 

It is said that Napoleon Bonaparte once made the 
remark "The Providence of God is always on the 
side of the heaviest battalions." The expression is so 
contrary to his doctrine of fixed fate, and is so entire- 
ly disproved by the great facts of history of which 
we know that he was not ignorant, that we are dispo- 
sed to doubt whether he ever made the declaration. 
The truth is that God is always on the side of right, 
and the cause which he espouses in the long race will 
win. He who is on the right side with God, will surely 
succeed ; the wrong shall certainly be overthrown. 
True, there may be needed the discipline of adversity 
to reveal the hidden power of Omnipotence. The 
good cause may meet with stunning blows from the 
rapid and heavy onsets of rebellion, and be hurled 
back again and again in its effort to press forward ; 
but it awakens to the greatness of the conflict, and 
rallying to the fight it moves forward with the steady 
front of truth, liberty, law and God ; and it will come 
forth the victor. Search the world's history over and 
you will find that the great movements which have 
shaped the destinies of men have had their inspira- 
tion from above. In every decisive conflict of the 
world they win who are on the righteous side ; and it 
matters not what skill of generalship, what prowess 
of concentrated hosts, what desperate valor is arrayed 
against the right. The victory is the Lord's. 



25 



More times than commanders of armies are willing 
to acknowledge has it been shown, that the race is 
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. The 
feeble David's have crushed the mighty Golioth's, 
and in a way that puts to naught all the rules of sci- 
entific warfare. The little Monitor sent the giant 
Merrimac staggering back to her birth, and in the 
light of victory we cried "it is the Lord." When 
the Kearsarge and the Alabama sailed out to fight 
that ocean duel, it was known that save in a single 
feature, the Confederate was an overmatch for the 
Federal. She was a new ship, of approved con- 
struction, built by experienced craftsmen, of iron 
plate, and terrible engines of war, and fought by 
good officers and desperate men. But she dealt her 
fire wildly and rapidly ; while the other with deliber- 
ate aim made every shot tell upon her quivering 
antagonist. An hour decides the contest, and we 
have the explanation- in the Providence of God ; He 
gave the victory. On her deck over -which floated 
yonder stars and stripes was a patriot captain ; and 
at her guns stood brave hearts fighting for their 
country and homes. On the deck of the other stood 
a man whose cause was unrighteous ; and the crew 
were miserable hirelings who fought only for pay and 
plunder. 

The whole scene of our civil contest has brought 
to light the fact, that it is God alone who has crowned 
us with victory. The work is a completed work ; 
and he whom we lament to day acknowledged that 
while he labored with a patient heart, the result was 
the Lord's. All honor to our noble armies on their 
homeward march, and soon to mingle with us in the 



26 



peaceful scenes of industrial life. But while they 
fought so valiantly in the field, to them as to the 
Prophet of Israel, the mountain was covered with 
horses and chariots of fire, and God was in the fight. 
Their long marches and terrible hardships have been 
endured in the sustaining thought of a good cause 
and an approving country. Their tent fires gleamed 
with the radiance of home. The shock of arms was 
the test of all that is sacred in the gift of God and 
in the happiness of man. Every trumpet note was 
the clarion of liberty. And every victory shall send 
its triumph along the path of ages. Surely to the 
cause in which God is present, every man will be a 
hero, and the result is plain. 

5. God means the perpetuity of our free institutions. 

A sublimer spectacle has not been witnessed than 
the inauguration of President Johnson, and the una- 
nimity with which the people stand around his ad- 
ministration. ■ In the midst of the most appalling 
circumstances, and at a most critical juncture, the 
Chief Magistrate is smitten down by the hand of an 
assassin. At the same hour the Secretary of State 
receives a murderous assault, though languishing on a 
bed of sickness. It was speedily known that a con- 
spiracy was in progress to cut off all the heads of 
government. Lieutenant General Grant was to have 
been one of the victims, and Secretary Stanton 
another. No one could tell but that a bullet from 
some unseen hand might pierce his heart. 

But the leaders of the nation during that awful 
night did not waver for a moment in their allegiance 
to the government In a short time after the death 



27 

of the President, they assembled in the presence of 
Andrew Johnson, and gave him the same loyal sup- 
port which they had rendered to his martyred pred- 
ecessor. The dignity and glory of our institutions 
exhibited in that simple act, is a picture such as the 
world cannot parallel. And while we cannot but 
mourn the Providence which has removed from us 
our honored Chief Magistrate, we will thank God that 
in our present Executive, he has bestowed upon us a 
Ruler who, already in the brief period of his office, 
has given us the promise of a wisdom so sagacious, 
and of a policy so sound, that we will trust him as 
the agent under a higher power, to complete the 
work of rebuilding the glorious edifice of our free 
institutions. v 

Let every Christian heart pray God that he will 
bless and prosper Andrew Johnson, and give him 
wisdom to bring back this land to its ancient renown. 
Let us all cherish for our country the best hopes and 
anticipations. Let us free our minds of prejudice, 
passion, and the spirit of vain-glorious trust. Let us 
have confidence in our government, in the people, 
in justice, in God. Let us cherish no dishonorable 
resentments, vengeance, or wrath. Let us cordially 
support our rulers ; and plant round the grave of our 
President the olive grove, to testify that we accept 
the closing lesson from his lips and life — Peace, peace 
to our country ; Good will to all mankind. 



\ 



